The Miami Heat's roster heading into training camp is pretty much full as they have 18 players signed, but it seems as though they are not done adding players as they have reportedly agreed to a deal with John Lucas III to attend training camp, according to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
The report states that the deal is non-guaranteed and just a training camp invite, but the Heat have had interest in signing Lucas all offseason. Lucas was reportedly close to a deal with the Los Angeles Clippers earlier this offseason, but talks broke off once they signed Pablo Prigioni to a deal.
Lucas has reportedly been working out with the team at their practice facility, which had him on the organizations radar. The 32-year-old point guard has been in training camp with the Heat before but was cut in favor of Carlos Arroyo back in 2009. Although he was cut, Lucas reportedly left a very good impression with the Heat and has an already established relationship with head coach Erik Spoelstra.
Lucas enters a pretty crowded competition at point guard for the Heat where Goran Dragic will be the starter, but they also have three other point guards signed. Mario Chalmers and Josh Richardson have fully guaranteed contracts, while Tyler Johnson is on a partially guaranteed deal. Lucas will be facing a major uphill battle to try and make the team, but one thing he has going for him is the fact that Chalmers has been involved in a lot of trade rumors. The Heat have been trying to trade Chalmers all offseason and have failed to do so, but if he does get traded, Lucas' chances of making the team increase at least a little bit.
In his seven-year NBA career, Lucas has played for five different NBA teams averaging 12.3 minutes in 237 career games. Lucas has averaged 4.8 points and 1.5 assists per game to this point in his career, but his most famous moment came against the Heat when Lucas, then on the Chicago Bulls, had LeBron James jump over him for a dunk. You can watch that highlight below.
